Cinderella Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in San Francisco

This past Saturday, 7/25/20, my family and I were walking back to our car and saw this bakery along the way and thought it would be a good to have a late afternoon snack. There was a line heading into the bakery and probably due to social distancing practices, only one person went inside at a time. We were waiting for maybe 15-20 minutes and was next in line when a woman cut in front of us to discuss an error with her order. I was absolutely fine with this but what I'm going to describe next is why I rated this place so low.

My son and I went up to the display, there menu above appeared to be savory lunch style foods but we only wanted desserts. After a few seconds, I figured all the desserts were in the displays only.

The lady that was working the counter then asked, "Are you ready to order?". I turned to her and said, "We still hadn't decided yet?" She then said, "Can I take someone else while your deciding?. I replied, "While we're inside? Her reply was, "Well if it would make it faster."

So let's break this down, there was 4-5 people ahead of me, I can't remember the exact number so let's say it was 4. If I was in line for about 15-20 minutes, let's take the shorter time and divide it by 4 and the average amount of time each person had to complete there order was 3.75 minutes. Then let's add a minute for the woman that cut ahead of me, so increases the number to 4 minutes per customer. So we were in there for less than 30 seconds before she asked another customer could be helped. So how come the other people ahead of us were allow more time and we weren't?

I understand that the pandemic has made it more difficult for everyone but I felt that my son and I were singled out and treated different than the others in front of me. It's not like there was a stop watch running but I know the difference between 30 seconds and a few minutes. I'm not sure if she was enforcing social distancing practices but each person ahead of me appeared to have there time alone with her.

I'm not looking for 5 star super friendly service but I would like to be treated fairly or at least professionally. My son felt uncomfortable after this and he was no longer in the mood to get anything here. So thank you for making your customers feel welcome to your establishment and we won't be visiting you again. The ratings for this place overall is very high but the low ratings are due to customer service, guess I'll be...

I've passed by here probably hundreds of times but have never gone inside until today. I ordered online through ToastTab for pickup because the prices there are lower than on other services. Upon arrival, I saw people lined up to go inside and all the outdoor dining tables looked occupied. I was able to skip the line and pick up my order very quickly. The borscht was a small portion for $7 but came with two slices of borodinsky bread. When I opened the container of borscht, a bunch of delicious smells hit me instantly. I ordered it cold and with no sour cream but it was hot. The soup was very good but I don't think it was worth $7 for a small bowl. I gobbled that borscht up in minute. It was my first time trying borodinsky (Russian dark rye) bread so I don't have any experiences to compare it to. By itself, it tasted a little too strong for me. It was a bit tough on the outside but soft inside and tasted sour and slightly bitter. I think it's an acquired taste. I dipped it into the borscht and it tasted wonderful. The meaty flavors of the borscht and the act of saturating the bread helped balance out the flavors so they weren't as strong and made the bread softer. I also ordered three fried piroshkis, two beef and cheddar, one beef and gorgonzola. The outside was nicely fried and tasted a tiny bit sweet. The fillings were very flavorful and perfectly seasoned. They also weren't dripping with oil like some other fried piroshkis I've had. The ones with cheddar were $4.50 each and the one with gorgonzola was $4.75. The last thing I ordered was a loaf of Russian white bread for $4. It was just good, soft, simple handmade white bread. I'm giving four stars because while the food and service were good, I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. There's another bakery on Geary near 20th avenue that has similar foods at lower prices. The food here is definitely better but not better enough in my opinion to justify the prices when there's something so similar nearby at...

The line took me a few minutes to traverse, but the food was worth it! Everything was fresh and delicious. Textures and flavors all on point!

I ordered the pelmeni in chicken broth, beef/gorgonzola piroshki, salmon pierogi, and a strawberry custard croissant. Altogether this was about $27.

The pelmeni dish was my favorite! It was warm, homey, and delicious. It came with 2 slices of brown bread and some creamed butter to spread, as well as a little bowl of sour cream, which complimented the umami meat dumpling flavors well. The broth was especially savory and comforting.

Of the pastries (which I took to-go to share with others), the stuffed croissant definitely shone. It was refreshing and not too sweet, with a wonderful crisp to the croissant which remained despite each bite of creamy custard.

The pierogi was yummy, with a significant quantity of salmon filling (along with some glass noodle bits that were full of flavor). I liked the textures plenty. Turns out that my husband found the overall flavor a bit too fishy for his preferences, though.

The piroshki was straightforward- with a solidly yummy flavor developed between the beef and the cheese. I couldn't have guessed there was gorgonzola- the mix worked smoothly together and wasn't 'stinky'...